1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to devices for transferring articles from one position to another, and more particularly, to devices for transferring large filled bins, such as fruit bins, while maintaining the vertical orientation of each bin being transferred.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Where a stack of bins, either empty or with contents therein, is to be transferred from one position to another, it is often necessary to perform this operation in a limited amount of space or, especially where the bins transferred are not empty, to maintain the orientation of each bin being transferred.
To be sure, the prior art literature is replete with devices for transferring bins or open boxes so as not to spill the contents thereof. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 1,290,675 to Stiebler et al which discloses a machine that uses a pivotable pair of clamping feet to maintain the vertical orientation of the bin being transferred. In the Stiebler et al patent, as in many later issued patents, the disclosed machines are operated so that the bins or boxes must be transferred vertically upward by separate conveying means to a position where they may be engaged by the clamping feet, thus increasing the complexity of the apparatus and/or requiring an inordinate amount of room to perform the total transfer function.
Another example of a prior art teaching is U.S. Pat No. 2,258,461 to Marsden et al, which also discloses a machine that includes separate vertical conveying means to bring the bins or boxes to be transferred to a suitable height for gripping by the clamping means of a horizontal transport mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,590,225 and 2,676,697 to Bashore disclose devices that use an imaginative approach to the problem of providing pivot means for maintaining the vertical orientation of the bin being transferred; but here, too, a separate vertical conveyor is necessary to bring each bin to the proper height for gripping and horizontal transfer.
Of course, if the bins are empty and one is not concerned with maintaining the upright orientation of the bins transferred, many devices exist which both transfer and invert the bin so that the bottom becomes the top and conversely. Examples of this are to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,578,603 to Rothman and U.S. Pat. No. 2,583,490 to Orlando.